The past year has exposed existing gender inequalities. We’re halfway through women’s history month and the articles keep coming on how the pandemic has dealt a harsh blow to women and their careers. Some sobering stats-
2.5 million women left the workforce in the past year compared to 1.8 million men.
57.4% of women participated in the labor force, compared to 69.2% of men.
For many of these statistics, the already slow process of reaching gender parity has all, but come to a standstill. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020, gender parity will not be attained for another 99.5 years (!!). At this rate, most of us will probably not be alive to see it for ourselves.
In the meantime, what can we as investors do to push for gender parity? A few things:
Gender lens investing. As responsible investors, we can screen out companies with poor records for gender equality and seek out gender-diversity leaders. We’re looking at companies that value gender diversity on their boards and in senior management positions as well as companies that emphasize promoting and supporting women throughout the workforce. There are many gender equality funds on the market, some more effective than others. As You Sow’s resource on gender equality funds, powered by the Equileap Gender Equality Scorecard is a good place to start learning about these funds. Inspired by the UN’s Women Empowerment Principles, As You Sow scores companies based on 19 criteria, including gender balance across the workforce, the gender pay gap, paid parental leave, and anti-sexual harassment policies.
Invest in companies that seek to elevate women and girls. This approach looks at companies that are women-owned or led or that offer products and services aimed at improving the lives of women and girls. Women-led startups received just 2.3% of venture capital funding in 2020. Not to mention, “only about 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women, and most firms still don’t have a single female partner, according to an analysis last year. Of all partners at these firms, only 2.4% are female founding partners.” It’s also important to note that when women-led startups receive funding, they “ultimately deliver higher revenue — more than twice as much per dollar invested.” For more information on investing in women, be sure to check out the Global Impact Investing Network’s (GIIN) wide array of resources on investing with the intent to address gender issues or promote gender equity.
Push for progress in social justice. Gender justice is very closely tied with racial, economic, and climate justice. There is so much intersectionality around all of these issues. As Rachel Robasciotti puts it - “It's no wonder, therefore, that the issues we’re working on end up intersecting the groups that have historically had power extracted from them for the benefit of others. When we're looking at issues like ending the subminimum wage in the United States, that's an issue that not only impacts women enormously, but also disproportionately impacts Black and Brown workers, in addition to being a pure economic justice issue. When we look at climate justice, it's no wonder that environmentally compromised areas are heavily populated by Black and Brown communities. These issues are inseparable.” We couldn’t agree more.
Let’s keep pushing for progress. If you’re interested in learning more or working together on how we can do our part in fighting for gender equality, feel free to reach out. We’d love to collaborate.
